40. Desert Run by Betty Webb

#4 Lena Jones, Scottsdale, AZ Investigator
read on my iPhone
2006, Poisoned Pen Press
346 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 4/25/19
Goodreads rating:  3.90 - 332 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Scottsdale, AZ

First line/s:  "It was a good day to film but a bad day to die."

My comments:  It took me awhile to get into this story, but it grew on me as more and more information about the characters unfolded.  In 1944, 28 German POWs escaped from the American prison camp called Camp Papago in Scottsdale, AZ.  This is the story of the murder of one of those prisoners 60 years later, and the domino effect that had Lena Jones hot on the trail.  It also includes a bit of romance for herself, albeit with a great deal of untrusting on her part, and the loss and near-loss of two friends essential in her life.  Decent storytelling.

Goodreads synopsis:  Things are never easy for Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones. Her partner in Desert Investigations, Jimmy Siswan, is leaving for an upscale wife and a job at Sun Microsystems. Her old Captain at the Scottsdale PD is off home to Brooklyn. She's doing security for Warren Quinn, director of a documentary being shot at Papago Park about the German POW camp and the ""great escape"" of Christmas Eve, 1944, when some prisoners tunneled out and fled. And one surviving escapee, Kapitan zur Zee Erik Ernst, a man in his nineties confined to a wheelchair after a boating accident, has just been murdered. Worse, his Ethiopian care giver begs Lena to clear him.
          Lena, experienced in probing the past for answers to the central mystery of her own life--who is she?--learns that Ernst and two other POWs hid out in the rugged Superstitions. Nearby, on Christmas night, a whole farm family, the Bollingers, was slaughtered. A jury didn't convict the only survivor, the teenage son. What might Chess Bollinger know about Ernst--and vice versa? And how much can Lena trust Quinn, either as a client, a witness, or a lover?

     A complex, stunning case based on real Arizona history, journalist Betty Webb, author of Desert Noir, Desert Wives, and Desert Run, spins an evocative, haunting story.

PICTURE BOOK - School's First Day of School by Adam Rex

Illustrated by Christian Robinson

2016, Roaring Brook Press

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.17 - 1597 ratings

My rating: 3

Endpapers:  a birds-eyeish view of a concrete playground with various white-line-painted games being played by kids

Illustrations: Acrylic paint and collage, very simple, lots of white

1^st line/s:  "That summer, they dug up the big field, and poured the foundation, and set brick on top of brick until they'd built a school"

My comments:  Many people had talked about this being a possibility for the Caldecott, which surprises me since that's an award for illustrations.  The story and illustrations do well together, but I'm not sure whether the illustrations would be of Caldecott level....though I usually don't agree with the award choices. (He did win the Caldecott last year! Shows how much I know or agree!) The story, though simple, is sweet and will engage kids well.  And no mention of why it's named Frederick Douglass Elementary, which would have been nice even if it is geared towards kindergarten kids... A great example of anthropomorphism that is not an animal.

Goodreads:  It's the first day of school at Frederick Douglass Elementary and everyone's just a little bit nervous, especially the school itself. What will the children do once they come? Will they like the school? Will they be nice to him?
     The school has a rough start, but as the day goes on, he soon recovers when he sees that he's not the only one going through first-day jitters.

58. Empty Houses - Betsy Thornton

(looks like the first in a new series)
read the actual hard cover book that I got from the library!
2015 Severn House Publishers
224 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished 10-21-16 (read in two days)
Goodreads rating:  3.47 - 19 ratings
My rating: 5/ for reasons, see "my comments"
Setting: Contemporary Bisbee, Arizona (called Dudley, but all other places names are correct)

First Line/s:  "The place was a beach town near LA; the event was lunch at La Casita, a Mexican restaurant Harry and Kate went to from time to time."

My comments:  I spent a day just last week in Bisbee, Arizona after reading one of Margaret Falk/J. Carson Black's mysteries that is set there. I've been down there quite a few times.  I wandered the streets and some of the staircases on foot, and drove in and around and all over the place.  So when I started reading this mystery (I've read all the Chloe Newcomb ones), I was RIGHT THERE.  Bisbee (which for some reason Ms. Thornton calls Dudley) is one of the protagonists  in this novel.  There are lots of characters and they were really easy to keep track of.  I like Kate.  She's flawed in lots of little ways, and seems so real.  I really like Malcolm, and I hope that he doesn't get dropped from the next in the series.  He's not so flawed, he's pretty darned cool.....  The mystery was well plotted and kept me guessing. The only thing I didn't like quite so much was the hopping back and forth from coast to coast as easily as they did.  It's not that easy, believe me!  The trips to Tucson and Phoenix were great, I was able to be right there with them.  First book in a bit that I couldn't (or didn't want to) put down.  I'm giving it a five (probably should be a 4 or 4.5) because I want its average to go up higher!  Looking forward to #2!

Goodreads synopsis:  The first in the brand-new Kate Waters series"
          Dudley, Arizona is an isolated desert town attracting people who need to escape. Kate Waters flees there following an abusive relationship. Phoenix cop Malcolm MacGregor comes to recover from the death of his wife. No one knows why Carrie and Wes Cooper arrived. But when they are shot dead, the town authorities first instinct is to protect the lucrative tourist trade and make a quick arrest without asking too many questions. 
          Having once spoken to Carrie briefly, Kate becomes increasingly convinced that the wrong man has been arrested for the crime. Was the shooting random, or is there something in the victims history back east that would explain it? Teaming up with Malcolm MacGregor, Kate is about to uncover disturbing links between her own and Carrie s past. Is Kate herself at risk?

54. Darkscope - J. Carson Black (Writing as Margaret Falk)

read on my Kindle
it says 2010 as a publishing date, but I think it's older than that...
349 pgs.
Adult murder mystery/ghost story
Finished Friday, 10/7/16 - spent the day reading
Goodreads rating:  3.57 - 107 ratings
My rating: 4/ quite an enjoyable read, especially because of the setting, which was a major character in itself!
Setting: Bisbee, Arizona and it surroundings....1930's to 1980's

First line/s: PROLOGUE:  "Lucas McCord knew his death was imminent.  It didn't matter how he knew.  Like an animal searching for a quiet place to die, he had already retreated into that part of his sould reserved for waiting."
PART ONE:  "The volunteer caretaker at the Bisbee Historical Society whisked a feather duster over the display case near the window.  And halted, mid-whisk."

My comments:  The only "ghost" stories I've ever read have been for kids.  This adult ghost story was great fun for me on a number of levels.  I LOVED the setting - Bisbee, Arizona (with forays to Tucson and the area/s between) including lots of explanation and history.  And the story was multi-layered and a really interesting mystery.  I actually could have done without the ghost parts (I think it could have been written as an un-ghostly mystery and been even better), but I enjoy the occasional fantasy, and so much the better if it's about an interesting mystery.

Goodreads synopsis:  After photographer Chelsea McCord’s marriage falls apart, her great uncle Bob talks her into starting a new life in 1980s Bisbee, Arizona, the historic mining town with a notorious past. Bob's father, mining magnate Lucas McCord, helped build Bisbee in the early 20th century.
     Chelsea discovers an old box camera in a dusty trunk, the film still inside. Sfjhe uses it to photograph the town. Is it her imagination, or does the stench of death emanate from the camera’s inner workings?
     And when Chelsea looks through a viewfinder wavy with age, she sees children in gunny sack clothes, their eyes dark and grainy. Children from the 1920’s. She sees a young man and woman at a train station that no longer exists. The same young woman appears in each of the camera's photographs.
     As the past superimposes itself on the present, Chelsea learns the secret of her powerful family’s dark legacy. With one click of the shutter, she has unleashed a pure and hungry evil that will consume everyone she loves.
     Pitted against a supernatural force and stalked by a psychopathic killer, Chelsea rediscovers her capacity to love as she fights to save her beloved uncle–and herself.
     “Skillfully blending elements of mystery, horror and a nice touch of irony, DARKSCOPE weaves a fascinating spell. 4 ½ stars."
---Frank A. Loporto, Rave Reviews
     “Buy the book and send it to people you want to visit here. If they aren’t scared away by the plot, they’ll soon come in.”
---Bisbee Gazette